DanMachi vs Vinland Saga | Round 3 | Anime TKO

The war is about to begin… and possibly end, just as quickly. But with all this buildup, who comes out on top?

EvilBob: So. Third episode of these, huh?

Voyager: Yep.

EvilBob: So, um… how confident are you that yours is winning?

Voyager: Yyyep.

EvilBob: That’s… that’s not an answer.

Voyager: Yyyyyep.

EvilBob: Oh. Oh… Fine, let’s get this over with.

OPINIONS

EvilBob: Oh look, more buildup. I’m starting to have RWBY Volume 4 flashbacks with nothing important happening till near the end. Of course, that won’t be the case here but we won’t be getting to the core of the action until episode 4. Which is a problem for a TKO… but, in a vacuum, this is still really good. The buildup is handled extremely well. I liked getting to see more background from Thors and Helga about Ylva. And seeing more of the over-eager teens during that whole buildup is setting the expectations pretty well. Because we all know what’s about to go down.

Voyager: Heh? Oh my. He seems uncharacteristically agitated, for some reason. I wonder what could be the problem…

EvilBob: Oh, come off it.

EvilBob: Hey, I can totally win this category!

Voyager: Oh can you, now?

EvilBob: All that backstory we finally get out of Thors, further developing his character. We get to see what led him to getting so tired of battle, plus his interactions with those uppity teens he’s (not) dragging into war with him.

Voyager: Ah. Cute.

EvilBob: …

Voyager: I win.

EvilBob: What?

Voyager: I could easily go down the long list of character moments that make my point for me. But I won’t. One word. Lili.

EvilBob: But you’re just saying this because-!

Voyager: Of her actions this season, yes. Sure, I already adored her because of her time, last season. But even with so little time, she’s only proved exactly why she’s such a great character, completely removed from what we’ve already seen of her. They manage to handily remind us of what kind of character she was when she was introduced, so you don’t need to see the first season. At the same time, the emotional depths of this character just hit an all-time high in this episode… or low, depending on how you look at it.

EvilBob: But… but Thors…

Voyager: Hasn’t. Done. Anything. Yet. Meanwhile, Lili willingly sacrificed herself and her own happiness in an attempt to save the people she’d come to care so deeply for despite previously having been such a self-serving character. And again, that’s just her. Or would you like me to crack into all of Hestia’s awesome moments in this episode? Because she gets, like… three.

EvilBob: . . .

Voyager: Ah. I believe that’s the sound of me winning.

EvilBob: I can win this one for sure! The visuals in Vinland Saga are great! The animation’s so clean and-

Voyager: It’s such a shame they’ve not done anything with it yet…

EvilBob: Bu- tha- it- a-an action sequence is starting!

Voyager: And that gives you about three, for a grand total of, what, a whopping minute of really great animation, overall? Vinland Saga has an undoubtedly great style to it. And the animation is pretty crisp. But shall we review what we’ve seen of DanMachi so far? Basically an entire episode of action, last week. Then some amazing expression and character work that lets us dive deep into the hearts of the characters, this week. Oh. And some pretty cool action, while we’re at it. As if J.C Staff was pumping out all the mediocre crap, of late, because they were throwing all their best resources at DanMachi.

EvilBob: …Holy crap, that actually makes sense.

Voyager: Yeah? About as much sense as me taking this category.

EvilBob: …wait.

Voyager: Arigato.

EvilBob: YOU…..

Voyager: So Lili-

EvilBob: Just take the stupid category.

Voyager: Why, thank you!

CONCLUSION

Voyager: Ahahahaha! That makes three rounds, doesn’t it?

EvilBob: Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement?

Voyager: Sure! We can both agree that I win this bracket in an overwhelming victory!

EvilBob: …Kicking a man when he’s down. Have you no honor?

Voyager: HA!

Voyager: ‘Eyyy! All I do is win!

EvilBob: Not for long, you insufferable-

Voyager: Hmmm?

EvilBob: Nothing!

Voyager: Right! Aaanyway, that’s the game, folks! But stick around for next week to see if Vinland Saga can actually put a point on the board, for once!

EvilBob: Dude. Not cool.

Voyager: Whaaat?

EvilBob: You didn’t have to word it like that!

Voyager: I didn’t have to tell the truth? That’s not a very good lesson to go teaching the kids.

EvilBob: . . . . .

Voyager: What about you guys, at home? Do you think DanMachi earned this complete and total victory? Or should Vinland Saga have won something?

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I can’t actually watch Vinland Saga but DanMachi was awesome this week. I really loved seeing Lily’s story and while I would have liked them to have gotten a little more into how messed up the Soma familia is I really enjoyed what we got.

Yeah. I can kinda see why they didn’t. It’d be a whole nother episode or half of one, at the very least. I dunno how long the season is going to be so I can’t say how much time they’d have needed to dedicate exactly and it’s kinda sad we didn’t get to see the full depths of that so we could *really* get why Lili hated it so much… well… aside from the one guy in particular. But still a really great episode, overall.